Categories

A big thank-you to all of our listeners who enjoyed Transistor, PRX’s experimental STEM podcast. We featured stories from around the world, from producers new and veteran, and about everything from lonely whales to ovarian transplants.

Vaccinations, in one form or another, have been around longer than the United States. In fact, during the Revolutionary War in 1776, future first lady Abigail Adams pursued the controversial new scientific technique to protect her 5 children against a threat more dangerous than an army of Redcoats. Here’s Luke Quinton with the story.

This story was originally produced by Luke Quinton in 2014. It was hosted and mixed for Transistor by Josh Swartz.

Cosmic rays from outer space sound like science fiction. They’re not—invisible particles flung from outer space pass through our bodies every minute. But not all cosmic rays are equal. Some are immensely powerful and very rare. For decades, scientists have wondered where they’re coming from – and what could possibly be hurling them at Earth. Now, they’re getting closer to finding out. Ross Chambless has the story.

This story was originally produced by Ross Chambless in 2015. It was hosted and mixed for Transistor by Josh Swartz. Outro music by Podington Bear.

Every October 16th hundreds of people gather in Dublin to celebrate Ireland’s greatest mathematician, William Rowan Hamilton. And get this – it was his act of vandalism on Broom Bridge in 1843 that put him in the history books – it actually changed mathematics forever. Samuel Hanson brings us the story.

This story was originally produced by Samuel Hansen in 2015. It was hosted and mixed for Transistor by Josh Swartz. Outro music by Chris Zabriskie.

Hurricanes Harvey and Irma left devastation in their wake all across the southern United States as unimaginable quantities of water swallowed up small towns and cities alike. But what happens to that water and how can cities better prepare ahead of time? Two years ago, reporter Jenny Chen followed two so-called flood hydrologists to learn more about the preparation.

This story was originally produced by Ellen Roles and Jenny Chen in 2015. It was hosted and mixed for Transistor by Josh Swartz. Outro music by The Underscore Orkestra.

What if the size of our dinner plate, its color, the material of our cutlery – even background sounds – all affect how our food tastes? In other words, what if it’s not just about what we cooked for dinner, but the context of the meal itself?

Presenter Quentin Cooper meets some of the growing band of scientists who say that the food we eat is just a small part of our tasting experience.

This story was originally produced by Hannah Marshall and presented by Quentin Cooper in 2015. It was hosted and mixed for Transistor by Josh Swartz. Outro music by Jahzzar.

On May 2, 2015, beekeepers Pam Arnold and Kristy Allen got hit with a pesticide. They couldn’t see it or smell it, but when they saw their bees writhing on the ground and dying they knew something was seriously wrong. Listen along as scientists get to the bottom of the killer pesticide.

This story was originally produced by Megan Molteni in 2015. It was hosted for Transistor by Genevieve Sponsler and mixed for Transistor by Josh Swartz.

Thirty-six-year-old twins Carol and Katy are physically identical in every way but one: Katy was born without ovaries, and wanted to start a family. The science and ethics behind ovarian transplants as a treatment for infertility.

This story was originally produced by Robin Amer in 2016. It was hosted for Transistor by Genevieve Sponsler and mixed for Transistor by Josh Swartz.

Women over 30 who haven’t yet had kids are often told “tick tock — your biological clock is running out of time.” Marnie Chesterton digs into the science underpinning that view. When do women become infertile and why?

This story was originally produced by Marnie Chesterton in 2015. It was hosted for Transistor by Genevieve Sponsler and mixed for Transistor by Josh Swartz. Host intro music: “My Always Mood” from Broke For Free.